4:45pm: Australian shares edged slightly higher on Tuesday, as overnight momentum from US and European rallies offset mixed domestic corporate results, profit-taking and concerns about soft commodity prices.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 2.7 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 5637. The broader All Ordinaries Index, meanwhile, closed down six points, or 0.15 per cent, at 5637.8.

After a strong start on the back of upbeat sentiment in the US and hopes of further monetary easing in Europe, the local market eased for lack of any domestic data releases.

4:02pm:An overhaul of European national accounts in September will not rewrite the narrative of a feeble and faltering recovery but it will reveal that Europe’s economies are bigger than previously reckoned, the Economist notes:

The revisions will not be on the epic scale of the one in Nigeria earlier this year, which almost doubled its estimated output. But they will raise GDP in Europe’s biggest economy, Germany, by 3.3 per cent, in line with the boost to American GDP from a similar exercise a year ago (see chart).

European countries are adopting new global standards for what counts as output. These replace rules dating back to 1995, when the internet age had barely begun.

By far the biggest change in how output is measured will come from reclassifying research and development (R&D). By treating it as an investment, rather than as if it is being consumed in the course of production, it will add to GDP.

3:47pm:Investors betting against Australian bonds are taking heart as the market listens as much to the US Federal Reserve’s Janet Yellen as it does to local central bank chief Glenn Stevens.

Government debt due in 10 years and longer is moving in tandem with US securities by the most since April. The correlation reached 0.926 at the end of last week, with a figure of 1 meaning they move in lockstep, according to an index compiled by Bloomberg and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. The average is 0.797 over the past decade.

Stevens said last week the economy needs confidence rather than lower interest rates to stimulate growth, signalling Reserve Bank of Australia policy will probably remain unchanged. That leaves investors in the Australian market looking for guidance from the US, where Yellen said in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Aug. 22 that, with labour markets healing, Fed officials are shifting to debating when to reduce monetary stimulus.

“There’s more potential in the short term for there to be a market-moving event from the Fed than there is from the RBA,” said Bill Bovingdon, the chief investment officer at Altius Asset Management. “There’s more activity there. There’s more action,” he said.

Australian benchmark 10-year notes yield 3.35 per cent. A Bloomberg survey of economists’ predictions indicates the rate will rise 56 basis points to 3.91 per cent by Dec. 31. Equivalent US yields will advance 55 to 2.94 per cent, a separate survey shows.

Bovingdon predicts yields will approach 4 per cent in Australia and 3 per cent in the US by the end of the year.

3:27pm: Australia’s four leading bank economists say there is no housing bubble around the nation but warn Canberra that failing to reach a compromise over the budget is the biggest risk to fragile consumer confidence.

In an exclusive interview with the AFR, Bill Evans from Westpac, Alan Oster from National Australia Bank, Michael Blythe from Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Warren Hogan from ANZ disagreed on a number of issues - but not on the housing market.

“Certainly no bubble’ said Hogan. “The perceived expensiveness of our property market is as much as anything a social issue, affordability issues. We simply don’t have the speculative credit element there to describe it as a bubble. Low income earners getting heavily leveraged was the problem in the United States we don’t have that issue here."

Blythe said that for it to be a real bubble you’d need to see that increase in prices being driven by housing debt but that’s not happening.

“No bubble. Housing credit’s running at the bottom end of the range the last 30 years. You need to see banks easing their lending standards as they chase more dubious borrowers that’s certainly not happening and you need a general expectation that house prices are going to keep rising forever. Now there is an element of that I think.” he said.

NAB’s Oster also said “no bubble’’. He thinks the problem for housing could be unemployment. ‘’If unemployment in our models gets to around 8 or 9 per cent then you get the same problem as you’ve got everywhere else but we’re undersupplied, interest rates are low, we think unemployment’s gone up but nowhere near 9 per cent so no bubble.”

Simmering geopolitical issues aside it is the budget and it’s failure to be passed that worries all four the most.

“I think we need to recognise the fact that the issues around the budget have had an impact upon confidence and in my opinion they slowed down a promising lift in consumer activity. So I think the politicians need to understand that an adequate resolution to these issues is quite important for re-establishing momentum in the economy’’ said Westpac’s chief economist Bill Evans.

“ And so what we need is a compromise. We need to smoothly get this budget away so people can move on with a degree of confidence and certainty” he added.

NAB’s Oster warned that “if the consumer gets higher degrees of anxiety and then stops spending, it’s a slow burn and that will bring everything down. I just want them to get it fixed as in get it away”.

3:25pm: After its stellar numbers Monday, Caltex continues to rally today, and is holding up 1.8 per cent at $27.95.

Credit Suisse was so smitten with the results it has hiked its 12-month target to $31 from $23.90 previously.

"After the run it's had, the easy thing might be to bank the profit. Yet, having upgraded NPAT by 7%, 5% and 13% in FY14, FY15 and FY16, the stock still looks relatively cheap in an expensive market," it told clients earlier today.

"With FY16 the new 'nomalised' year, post full cost savings, it is trading on just circa 7.5% FY16 EV/EBITDA. Chuck in the potential for further upgrades from product sourcing upside, capital management that could free up the more than $4/share of franking credits and debt cost reduction and there is every reason to still own this stock."

3:14pm: South Australia has a blunt message for NSW: sort out your own energy problems, rather than relying on having billions spent linking northern Australia to the south, to help supply gas.

"The fastest, most sensible way to address the east coast gas crisis is to develop the vast gas resources on the east coast," Tom Koutsantonis, who is the SA Treasurer and also the Resources and Energy Minister, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"NSW should be encouraging investment and exploration of its own gas reserves, not stifling it through policies based on emotion rather than science," he said. "South Australian oil and gas companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in NSW exploring for gas only to find an unwelcome regulatory framework.

"It seems NSW wants the rest of the country to provide for its energy future rather than getting involved and being part of Australia’s energy revolution. Every state has a responsibility to develop its resources and provide for its citizens."

The biggest movements in consensus analyst recommendations over the past month.

2:49pm: With only a few days left this earnings season, a stocktake of analyst recommendation changes shows junior telco M2 Group has garnered the biggest jump in popularity among the broker community, know collectively as “the Street”, while Tatts Group has fallen the most out of favour over the past four weeks.

Bloomberg distills analysts recommendations into a single consensus opinion, measured on a scale of one to five. A score of one is a consensus “sell”, a score of two is a “weak sell”, three is a “hold”, four is a “weak buy”, and five a “buy”.

On that scale M2 Group has jumped from a hold to a weak buy – a score of 4.1, as the table shows. The next most upgraded stock is Ozforex Group, up 0.5 to 4.2, while The Reject Shop has garnered a similar boost in support from analysts, but still falls short of a hold rating.

Plummeting in the collective analysts’ esteem is Tatts Group, dropping from what would have been bordering on a buy to more like a sell following the release of what was seen as a disappointing profit result.

Troubled rare earths miner Lynas is the next most downgraded stock over the past four weeks, looking more like a sell than a hold now after it emerged in the latest production update that the company was facing a potential cash crunch this quarter.

Also among the companies facing a greater level of analyst disdain is Carsales.com. The former market darling must be feeling jilted, but the market overall remains positive – why else would it be trading at 24 times estimated earnings for this financial year?

For the record, the five most popular stocks among analysts are: Nine Entertainment (a score of 4.8), Slater & Gordon (4.7), and Seven West Media, Crown Resorts and Rio Tinto, all rating of 4.6 on the Bloomberg scale.

2:13pm:Only a fraction of Australia’s half-a-million self-managed superannuation funds pay any income tax, experts say, because of generous super concessions and franking credits that are undermining the federal budget.

Tax Office statistics show almost 300,000 self-managed superannuation funds eliminated or reduced their tax bills through exemptions on super and $2.5 billion in franking credits in 2011-12. These are the most recent records available, although experts say the surge in dividend payments since then has further reduced the small amounts of tax paid by these funds, which are often the primary income of wealthy retirees.

At the time, 424,360 funds generated gross taxable income of $32.9 billion. About $15 billion of that was entirely exempt from income tax because the funds were in the pension phase, which doesn’t incur income tax.

Self-managed funds contribute little to the tax system – because about half of the funds’ assets are already in the pension phase, Tria Investment Partners principal Andrew Baker said. Also, most self-managed funds receive franked dividends, which cuts the tax bill of many other funds to zero.

“It’s a problem isn’t it?” Baker said. “It’s unlikely SMSFs are ever going to pay a substantial amount of tax as a segment.”

The loss of revenue will rise because of an ageing population shifting assets into pension phase and the greater payment of dividends, he said.

2:00pm:AWE has released what is being seen as a "soft" production forecast for the financial 2015 year, and pushed out its growth target by a year after a delay in a key oil project in Indonesia.

Output in 2014-15 should be between 4.6 million and 5.1 million barrels of oil equivalent, down from 5.6 million boe in 2013-14, AWE said after reporting a full-year profit before one-time gains roughly in line with forecasts.

Meanwhile, Santos' takeover as operator of the Ande Ande Lumut oil venture in Indonesia has seen the start-up timing for that field slip into late 2017, stretching out AWE's growth target by a year.

JPMorgan said it expected the 2014-15 production forecast to be "poorly received", noting consensus forecasts had been for output of 5.5 million boe.

Citigroup analyst Dale Koenders was assuming production in fiscal 2015 of 5 million boe, and said the full-year profit in 2013-14 was "slightly below" its estimate. Koenders still retained his ‘buy’ recommendation on AWE shares, with a target price of $2.34.

However AWE shares have slid, losing 3.1 per cent to $1.705.

Its peer Senex Energy has also seen its shares come under pressure, plunging 6.7 per cent as it also released a production outlook that was lower than analysts had expected.

Senex approached AWE with a merger proposal late last year, but was rejected.

1:49pm: The local market seems to be taking its cues from regional markets, which are trading flat to lower:

Japan (Nikkei): -0.4%

Hong Kong: -0.15%

Shanghai: -0.2%

Taiwan: +0.1%

Korea: +0.5%

ASX200: -0.1%

Singapore: flat

New Zealand: +0.3%

‘‘Gravity tends to pull on the markets after they’ve had a strong directional move,’’ says CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner. ‘‘The market needs good news to sustain it and in the absence of this, tends to drift down. Valuations are fairly full.’’

Leaping tall price records in a single bound.. a mint copy of Superman's debut in Action Comics number one.

1:42pm:

A near-flawless edition of the first comic featuring Superman from June 1938 has fetched $US3.2 million ($3.5m) at auction on eBay, surging past the previous record for a single comic book.

After the 10-day online auction concluded on Sunday, the hammer came down for Action Comics No.1 with a price of $US3,207,852 ($3,456,662), according to the online commerce site.

The vintage work's seller Darren Adams, a collector in Washington state, described it as possibly the "best copy in existence," the "holy grail" of comic books that deserves its status as the most valuable in the world.

The cover features the red-caped man of steel hoisting an automobile over his head.

The character is widely credited with starting the multi-billion-dollar worldwide comic book superhero phenomenon.

Only 50 to 100 copies of the comic book are believed to still exist, most of them in considerably poorer condition than that owned by Mr Adams.

The Action Comics debut was purchased by marketplace firm ComicConnect, whose director Stephen Fishler has not ruled out putting it back up for sale.

1:27pm:Iron ore futures have rebounded after a six-day slide but abundant supply of the bulk commodity is likely to keep a lid on price gains.

The rise in futures may help ease some pressure on spot iron ore prices, which touched fresh two-month lows overnight and were within striking distance of this year's trough at $US89 a tonne.

Iron ore for delivery in January on the Dalian Commodity Exchange is up 0.5 per cent at 647 yuan ($US105.15) a tonne. Benchmark 62-per cent grade iron ore for immediate delivery to China fell 1 per cent to $US89.20 a tonne on Monday.

While demand from China, which buys around two-thirds of the world's iron ore, remains firm as shown by its strong imports, the market remained flushed with supply of the raw material to make steel.

Top miners such as Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton remain bent on boosting supply, convinced that their low-cost business model will prevail over higher cost producers including those in China.

But China's overall raw iron ore output has continued to increase, with production in January-July up 9 per cent to 849.4 million tonnes, according to government data released this month.

While many midsize and small Chinese mines have shut down, their total output "accounts for only a small part of the aggregate production," said Cao Bo, analyst at Jinrui Futures in Shenzhen.

"Besides, a lot of new mines came to operation in the past half year. The newly released capacity replaced those that were shut down," he said.

A review in league with Macquarie advisers is continuing, but it is beginning to look like the company might downsize itself until it simply isn't there at all.

The latest piece of the PacBrands cat to disappear is the workwear division. A cashed-up Wesfarmers knocked on the door with an offer, PacBrands listened, and the business and its two iconic brands, King Gee and Hard Yakka, are transferring to Wesfarmers' Industrial and Safety division for $180 million.

PacBrands has appointed its chief financial officer, David Bortolussi to replace John Pollaers, who departed in July after disagreeing with his board about the group's strategic direction.Bortolussi gave his first presentation on Tuesday morning, and the numbers show that there certainly is room for disagreement about where the company is headed.

The workwear business was selling into sectors of the economy that are in retreat, including manufacturing, but it is hard to see any part of PacBrands' portfolio that is a definite keeper.

12:44pm: The most closely watched indicator in the US economy is the unemployment rate, but is it just a red herring?

Heidi Shierholz, who studies labour issues at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, was appointed today as the chief economist at the US Department of Labor, which oversees the research behind the indicator. She says the improving unemployment rate understates the joblessness problem because it doesn’t account for some 6 million workers who went missing after the 2008 recession. The mystery at hand is what happened to them.

12:28pm:Banks will ramp up their resistance to tougher rules designed to make them more resilient to shocks, as the financial system inquiry enters its final stages.

Facing the prospect of being forced to hold billions more in capital, banks today are due to lodge their second-round submissions with the inquiry, led by former Commonwealth Bank boss David Murray.

As financial institutions put the final touches on submissions on Monday, it was clear financial stability would be a critical issue for the country's big lenders.

Mr Murray has signalled the inquiry is considering moves to make the system more resilient to future global shocks, floating the prospect of higher capital charges, "bail-in" bonds and the "ring fencing" of big banks' deposit-taking businesses.

In response, banks are set to argue that the inquiry has misread their true capital levels, via commissioned modelling on the capital position of each bank.

In a sign of the high stakes of the inquiry, UBS analyst Jonathan Mott has separately estimated that higher capital charges "appear inevitable" and this could force the big four banks to set aside an extra $23 billion.

12:15pm: The video in video games is suddenly a billion-dollar business.

Video games have long been something people played. But in the last few years, thanks in part to fast Internet access and multiplayer games, the games have become something that people sit back and watch, too.

On Monday, that new habit enticed the web giant Amazon to reach a $US1.1 billion deal to buy Twitch, the most popular website for watching people play games.

The deal for Twitch is the latest sign of the way forms of behaviour once seemingly on the fringe can, in the hands of tech entrepreneurs, turn into huge online communities in no time. Twitch did not exist a little over three years ago, and it now has 55 million unique viewers a month globally, helping turn games into a spectator event as much as a participatory activity.

Those millions of eyeballs are valuable to web companies, and Amazon, although usually known for its retailing, is no exception. To win in its bid for Twitch, Amazon had to outmanoeuvre a who’s who of the tech world, including Google — strongly suggesting that these companies think the era of video-game viewing is just starting.

It also underscored Amazon’s growing appetite for controlling and delivering content to digital devices, especially the tablets and smartphones made by Amazon.

11:54am:UGL’s outgoing chief executive, Richard Leupen, has forecast “significant” consolidation in the engineering sector as the contractor nears completion of the $1.2 billion sale of its DTZ property arm.

“If you’re a $300 million listed engineering company then you shouldn’t be there, you should be merged with someone else,” Mr Leupen told The Australian Financial Review after UGL delivered a 22 per cent rise in underlying net profits to $111.7 million.

“So many people entered the industry at the top of the cycle and there’s not enough work for them all. The market opportunity is less than it was two or three years ago.”

UGL’s engineering business will have revenues of about $2.4 billion when the sale of its property business is completed between October and December, and will carry very little debt.

The company plans to use proceeds from the DTZ sale to pay off most of its $567 million in net debt and return between $400 million and $500 million to shareholders.

Mr Leupen, who will leave UGL on November 21 after almost 14 years as CEO, said the company was “well placed” to participate in consolidation.

But UGL incoming CEO Ross Taylor, who will start on November 24, has already signalled he plans to take a cautious approach to acquisitions and focus on organic growth.

11:37am:Clive Palmer has apologised to "Chinese people everywhere" for his attack on "Chinese mongrels" who "shoot their own people" and "haven't got a justice system" - eight days after first making the comments.

The outspoken MP and leader of the Palmer United Party has written to the Chinese Ambassador in Australia, saying he "most sincerely" apologises for "any insult to the Chinese people" as a result of his comments made on live television last week.

"I now come to the realisation that what I said on Q&A was an insult to Chinese people everywhere and I wish to assure them they have my most genuine and sincere apology," Palmer wrote.

"I am sorry that I said the things I said on the program [and] I regret any hurt or anguish such comments may have caused any party.".

Palmer also wrote that he regretted any "hurt or anguish" his comments on Q&A might have caused "any party" and he looked forward to "greater understanding for peace and co-operation in the future".

11:20am:Consumer confidence has edged back above its long-run average, rising 0.9 per cent to 113.5 in the week ending August 24, according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan weekly survey.

‘‘Confidence continues to recover from its recent setback (which likely reflected ‘sticker shock’ from the unexpected rise in the unemployment rate), supported by solid fundamentals such as low interest rates and rising house prices,’’ ANZ says.

The rise in the index was driven almost entirely by an 11.1 per cent rise in household perceptions about their '‘financial situation compared to a year ago'’, the subindex most closely correlated with consumer demand.

This is an encouraging sign for consumer spending in coming months, ANZ notes.

“Signs that consumer confidence is bouncing back, combined with strengthening business surveys, gives us more confidence that the non-mining recovery remains on track,’’ says ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan. ‘‘We expect consumer spending to remain moderate in 2014 before improving in 2015.”

Over the past five years billions of dollars have been spent by Australia's big four banks on IT - ostensibly as a way of improving customer satisfaction, ultimately leading to improving market share.

But the latest customer satisfaction survey from Roy Morgan Research for July demonstrates pretty clearly that rather than getting an edge on the competition - there has been a general convergence in customer satisfaction numbers between the big four - Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, the National Australia Bank and ANZ.

Indeed the tide of overall satisfaction has risen and taken all four with it. Where 10 years ago there was a yawning gap between rankings - with customers rating ANZ satisfaction at 73.1 per cent and CBA at 63 per cent, today there is only a couple of percentage points between all of them and the overall level of satisfaction is over 82 per cent - which is close to a record high.

The old adage that "banks are bastards" has faded as the big institutions have attempted to re-invent themselves as better corporate citizens with user friendly products.

(Business banking customers are generally not as happy with the big four - but for different reasons.)

Given that most of us no longer use the physical branch network, it is understandable that IT has become the battle ground as most of our contact with banks will be via a device - either a computer or a smart phone. But one could argue that the current wave of IT spending has more to do with stay in business capital expenditure rather than a technology revolution.

10:36am: Communications company Salmat has suffered a 98 per cent decline in net profit after tax at $800,000 for the year ended June 30.

Driving the decline this year was the loss in profit from discontinued operations, $5.9 million in restructuring and separation costs associated with the sale of the BPO division and acquisition costs relating to the Netstarter and Microsourcing deals.

Salmat total revenue fared better at $452.8 million, 3.2 per cent down on last year.

Delayed contact centre revenue and non-renewals in direct sales and catalogue contracts caused the slide in revenue which were made up by new sales of $30 million.

The company announced a final fully-franked dividend of 7.5¢ per share taking the full-year dividend for the year to 15¢ per share.

Chief executive Craig Dower said heavy costs were in line with Salmat’s three-year investment and growth strategy.

“The size of our transformation effort was larger than anticipated, however, we have made solid progress and are confident that this current major phase will be completed by early 2015,” he said.

“We are confident solid top line growth in 2015 with benefits flowing to the bottom line from the second half onwards.”

10:06am: Almost $3 billion in shares could hit the market over the next week as the first selling window opens up for the class of 2013-14 initial public offerings, including $1.1 billion in equity from credit score company Veda Group alone.

Big investors usually have to wait a specific, but variable, period of time before they can trade their stake ­following a float. The rush of IPOs in late 2013 and early 2014 coincides with the significant number of shares that could be released in the week ahead.

Packaging company Pact Group, of which around $465 million of shares are set to come out of escrow on Wednesday, has already gone on the front foot and released a statement asserting Geminder Holdings, its ­biggest investor, will not be selling. ­Geminder is the investment vehicle of Raphael Geminder, Pact's chairman. Pact raised $1.7 billion in a float in December.

"The interesting thing about this reporting season is that it triggers the escrow to be removed from a lot of the recent IPOs and hence we expect to see a raft of sell-downs post this reporting season," said Perpetual's deputy head of equities, Paul Skamvougeras.

Not all organisations have been forthcoming around how much skin in the game their investors plan to retain.

The biggest potential source of equity out of escrow will be that of Veda Group which emerged as one of the strongest IPOs from last year. Private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners held 63.5 per cent of the company following the successful float which resulted in a 40 per cent price surge on debut.

Veda has disclosed that more than 500 million shares, valued at $1.1 billion, will be released from voluntary escrow on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on PEP's ­intentions in light of the imminent release of its annual results and a ­self-imposed "blackout" period.

9:46am: Stem cell therapy developer Mesoblast has increased its full-year net loss by 31 per cent to $81 million after a period of ramping up spending on clinical trials and investing in manufacturing capacity in anticipation of product approvals and launches.

The Melbourne-based company said its revenue rose 6.9 per cent to $37.1 million in the year ended June 30.

Although the $1.4 billion company does not yet have any products in the market, it earns revenue from interest, research and development tax credits and some provision of services.

At the end of the 2014 financial year Mesoblast had $196.4 million in cash reserves and said its normalised cash burn for the year was $78.2 million. This was up from $61.9 million in the prior year.

Mesoblast has stem cell therapies in the final stage of clinical trials for a number of conditions. Its MSC-100-IV product for the treatment of graft versus host disease, a complication often faced by patients receiving organ transplants, is the closest to market. The company’s partner in JCR Pharmaceuticals plans to file the therapy for registration in Japan before the end of the calendar year.

Mesoblast shares have lost 24 per cent in the past year, compared to an 11 per cent rise in the S&P/ASX200 index.

Cost of doing business jumped $85.8 million due to the Rivers acquisition as well as higher rental and wages costs and a $15.4 million investment in omni-channel retailing.

The net profit result fell short of consensus forecasts around $14 million and compared with a $13 million profit in 2013.

Specialty Fashion snapped up the 28-year-old ­Rivers Australia clothing and footwear company from founder Philip Goodman for the bargain basement price of $4 million cash, a discount to asset value, last November. However, Rivers added $53 million to Specialty Fashion’s cost of doing business.

The acquisition, which expanded SFH’s footprint into menswear, childrenswear and footwear for the first time, is expected to boost annualised sales by at least $180 million to around $750 million.

The deal also added another 180 stores to SFH’s 1000-store network.

Specialty Fashion, which owns Millers, Katies, Crossroads, City Chic and Autograph, plans to use its database of 7 million customers and 3.4 million email addresses to cross-sell or promote Rivers’s products.

The company declared an unchanged final dividend of 2¢ a share, payable September 26, taking the full year pay out to 4¢ a share.

9:37am: Fertility medicine network Virtus Health said it overestimated the number of in-vitro fertilisation cycles it would perform in its first year as a listed company, leading it to miss one of its prospectus targets.

The company said its statutory full-year net profit after tax tripled to $30.9 million.

On a pro-forma basis, which removes one-off costs associated with the June 2013 initial public offering, net profit for the year ended June 30 rose 17.2 per cent to $32.0 million.

The result just missed expectations among analysts of net profit of $32.3 million, but was up from $27.3 million in the same period last year.

But a decrease in activity across the IVF market in the second half of the 2014 financial year caused Virtus to miss its pro-forma EBITDA target by $2.6 million. Pro-forma EBITDA rose 7.7 per cent to $60.4 million.

However, net profit after tax exceeded the prospectus forecast by $0.6 million.

Revenue rose 7.9 per cent to $201.2 million, which was under the $205.1 million that analysts had expected, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Virtus shares have gained 13 per cent in the past year, compared to an 11 per cent rise in the S&P/ASX200 index. Monday's closing price of $8.01 is down from a 12-month high of $9.03 reached in November.

The board declared a dividend of 14 cents a share, payable on October 16.

9:35am:European shares rallied overnight, as the lure of new stimulus measures from the European Central Bank enabled the region's stock markets to shrug off weak German data and the resignation of the French government.

ECB chief Mario Draghi, speaking at a global central banking conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, said late on Friday that the ECB was prepared to respond with all its "available" tools should inflation drop further.

Draghi's comments helped offset negative pressures from a weak German Ifo survey, which showed that German business sentiment dropped for a fourth straight month in August, and from the French government's resignation.

"The stock markets are evaluating the prospect of possible monetary easing from the ECB as more important than the disappointing Ifo figures and French political troubles," said Carlo Alberto de Casa, senior market analyst at ActivTrades.

The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index closed up by 2.2 per cent at 3165.47 points. Germany's DAX - which remains down by around 5.4 per cent from an all-time high of 10,050.98 points set in late June - soared 1.8 per cent to 9510.14 points.

The London stock market was closed for a public holiday.

France's CAC finished 2.1 per cent higher, with some investors saying that a stronger and more unified French government might emerge that was more committed to President Hollande's deficit-cutting measures.

"The key message is that Draghi stands ready for more action if needed. Whether they're going to do quantitative easing remains to be seen, but we're fairly confident that the financial engineers at the ECB will find other tools," said Wenzel.

9:24am: Pacific Brands results are out, and iconic brands King Gee, Hard Yakka and Stubbies are headed to Wesfarmers for $180 million.

The clothing and textiles distributor has withheld its final dividend after rising costs and weak wholesale sales continued to squeeze margins, leading to a 28.2 per cent fall in underlying net profit to $53.0 million in 2014.

The company also announced plans to sell its struggling workwear business to Wesfarmers’ Industrial and Safety division for $180 million as part of a strategic review and appointed chief financial officer David Bortolussi as chief executive to replace John Pollaers.

Mr Pollaers stepped down in July after a falling out with the board over the company’s future direction. It is understood he was opposed to the sale of the workwear business, which owns brands such as King Gee and Hard Yakka.

While sales rose 3.8 per cent to $1.322 billion, earnings before interest tax and significant items fell 25.3 per cent to $91.2 million as costs rose more than $27 million, in line with Pacific Brands’ $90 million to $93 million guidance, which was cut by more than $10 million in June.

The underlying net profit result was slightly ahead of consensus forecasts around $52 million.

After one-off costs of $312 million, PacBrands reported a bottom line loss of $224.5 million.

9:19am:Auckland International Airport (AIA) reported a 10.5 per cent increase in full-year underlying profit to $NZ169.9 million ($152.5 million), in line with its guidance and analyst expectations.

The airport operator had forecast a figure of $NZ166 million to $NZ172 million, and analysts had forecast $NZ170 million. AIA had experienced international passenger growth of 5.1 per cent over the financial year ended June 30, and domestic growth of 2.2 per cent during the period.

However, per passenger spending on retail declined by 2.4 per cent, in part because the strong New Zealand dollar meant it was more attractive for some trans-Tasman travellers to make their purchases in Australia.

AIA increased its final dividend per share by 12 per cent to 7 cents a share, imputed at the New Zealand company tax rate of 28 per cent. Overall, the airline returned $NZ454 million of capital to shareholders during the financial year.

Chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden said he was confident in the airport's ability to unlock further opportunities in the 2015 financial year.

AIA has forecast it will report underlying profit after tax of $NZ160 million to $NZ170 million, due to increased interest costs associated with the capital return. Due to the 10 per cent reduction in the number of shares on issue after the capital return, that would represent a lift in earnings per share of 2 per cent to 9 per cent.

Per passenger spending on retail declined by 2.4 per cent, in part because the strong New Zealand dollar meant it was more attractive for some trans-Tasman travellers to make their purchases in Australia. Photo: Bloomberg

9:15am:Pacific Brands' largest shareholder has urged the board to seek investor approval if it plans to sell off major assets as part of a strategic review.

The Pacific Brands board met on Monday to consider a series of recommendations by Macquarie Capital, which was appointed in April to advise on options including asset sales and further restructuring.

Allan Gray portfolio manager Simon Mawhinney said he was not against further asset sales to reduce uncomfortably high debt levels, but shareholders should be given the opportunity to approve or veto any major divestments.

"They should do whatever creates long term value for shareholders," said Mr Mawhinney, whose fund owns 18 per cent of Pacific Brands.

"If they get an offer they can't refuse for one side of the business there should be no sacred cows," Mr Mawhinney told The Australian Financial Review.

"I just hope whatever it is they seek shareholder approval," he said, pointing to stock exchange listing rules that require companies to seek shareholder approval for significant transactions or aggregate transactions.

The board is expected to provide an update on the strategic review along with Pacific Brands' full year results today.

9:09am: The vice grip of oversupply and high cash costs will be pressuring Australia's iron ore miners, as the metal's price drifts lower and margins evaporate.

Iron ore has fallen below $US90 a tonne, dropping a further 1 per cent to $US89.20 overnight on Monday amid ongoing concerns over China's growth. In June, the metal hit $US89 per tonne.

Oversupply continues to weigh on the price of iron ore as global diversified miners, like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, ramp up production and flood the market with supply.

However, with low cash costs and high quality iron ore, the large miners will not be fazed by the lower price. BHP and Rio have break-even prices of just over $US40 per tonne.

Mid-cap miners with heavy exposure to iron ore face a much more difficult task than the big miners. Little diversification means smaller iron ore miners with higher break-even prices and lower quality iron ore will be feeling the pinch of a lower price.

Gindalbie stands out as one of the more vulnerable miners, not only because it has a break-even price of around $US90 per tonne, but it also holds a significant amount of debt.

Atlas Iron still maintains a small profit per tonne at Tuesday's price, with costs of $US82 per tonne, Mount Gibson has a break-even of $US75 per tonne, while BC Iron sits at $US70 per tonne.

Should the price of iron price test their break-even levels, these smaller miners carry little debt, but sustained lower levels could take their toll.

9:05am:US stocks rose, briefly sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index above 2000 for the first time ever, as corporate dealmaking and prospects for economic stimulus in Europe bolstered confidence in the bull market.

The S&P 500 rallied 0.5 per cent to 1,997.9, paring gains in the afternoon after holding above 2000 for less than two hours and reaching a record 2,001.95. The Dow Jones increased 75.7 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 17,076.9.

On a total-return basis the S&P 500 has more than tripled from its 2009 low hit during the financial crisis.

“This number, 2000, is a pretty significant number frompsychological and financial points,” Joe Bell, senior equity analyst at Cincinnati-based Schaeffer’s Investment Research, said. “Perhaps we might reach a little bit overbought status, and it looks like the index is going to take a breather there.”

Merger and acquisition activity led to some of the biggest moves in the market today. Burger King Worldwide added 20 per cent after saying it’s in talks to buy Tim Hortons. Morgan Stanley climbed to the highest since 2009 and JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs Group climbed more than 1.3 per cent.

Across the pond, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 1.1 per cent today as comments by Mario Draghi fanned speculation the European Central Bank is closer to quantitative easing. ECB policy makers “stand ready to adjust our policy stance further” and will use all available instruments to “ensure price stability over the medium term,” Draghi said over the weekend.

On a total-return basis the S&P 500 has more than tripled from its 2009 low hit during the financial crisis. Photo: Reuters

• RBC Capital Markets has a "sector perform" recommendation on Duet Group and a 12-month price target of $2.50 a share after the 2014 financial year result fell in line with expectations.

• RBC Capital Markets has a "sector perform" recommendation on Santos after "a good profit", highlighted by an unexpected increase in dividend to 20¢ a share. It has a price target on the stock of $16 a share.

• Hartleys Research upgraded Macmahon Holdings to a "buy" with a 12-month price target of 25¢ a share as the industry continues to face difficult operating conditions.

• Bank of America Merrill Lynch has posted a "buy" recommendation on Mortgage Choice, with a price target of $3.40 a share. The bank says Mortgage Choice has delivered a solid result with a double digit earnings per share growth continuing.

Some BS over and over. overvalued houses etc etc and the RBA telling us it is better to rent.

BUY BUY BUY before you all miss out lol

Commenter

ME ME ME

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:47PM

How Funny -ComSec stock of the week - NAB

Commenter

Greg

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:30PM

Picked up 1100+ IAG at 5.56 11 Apr 2014.

Sell order at 6.62 hoping Dividend Chasers will bid it up ... Current 6.48.

Do you think I'll make it?Have I set the sell price cheap, or should I sit on the shares and collect the Divi?

Any thoughts?

Commenter

Joe the POM

Location

Geelong

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:28PM

Well Joe, at least u r first in cue!!

Commenter

Ox

Location

Kensi Pk

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:34PM

I am building a stake in IAG, but think it will pull back a bit more than the div, so will wait until after. It is a great company and should continue to do well, holding is not a bad idea unless you need the cash.

Commenter

Lean Too

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:41PM

Hold for 12 months then sell so you only take a 50% CGT expense.

I sold mine at $6.49 today because the div would be taxed more than me just disposing of the stock, and because good weather isn't going to last forever.

Commenter

Sceptical Prophet

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 4:29PM

buy 1150 FMG @ 4.28start the ball rolling......uphill if possible.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:15PM

Any gains made from mms has been well and truly offset by agi.All I see is bears!

Commenter

Mike

Location

Melb

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:13PM

ARI? What is going on? SBM now ARI. Please say it isn't so ;)

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:12PM

EDs: If I wanted to search the archives of this blog for a particular article, how can I do that?

EDs: Hi DR. There is an index page for past blogs (http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets-live/), otherwise your best best will be a Google search with "markets live" and any other specifics you remember. The blog usually comes up high in searches. Good luck!

Commenter

DR

Location

Clovelly

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:01PM

how many times does the asx200 have to hit the 25 lvl before it penetrates. driving me mental.if todays hits on that don't constitute a continuation i don't know what does.i guess it's waiting from a lead OS to push it thru.

Commenter

j

Location

syd

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:00PM

Anyone have an in depth read of Bega's full year results yesterday. Did it miss expectations as its share price has been smashed.

If anyone has any comment that would be great. Cheers

Commenter

Savyinvestor

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:45PM

ASX goes nowhere for 4 days and XRO goes up each day. No dividend and no profit and up it goes. All of a sudden people think I'll buy that at $22.00 and 2 weeks later it's at $12.00. Was 43.00. Anyone buy it then. What a great investment.

Commenter

Zero

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:28PM

Another Motely Fool hot pick bahaha! It was always a speccy, if you convice youself otherwise it's uppercut time!

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:55PM

And what would fair value be for this stock?pricing potential is always difficult but don't be surprised when it rallies again.[not holding]

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:18PM

@BSB i agree. They have begun aggressive marketing camagains around Sydney, buses getting around ect... won't be suprised to see them lift 'eventually'. No need to spend half the year sitting on a dog though.

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:36PM

Overseas holders dumping Telstra before the close? No franking credits for them!

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:28PM

Aw heading back up now :(

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:20PM

I love the negativity aimed at successful investors.Markets up lets bash it! Property is going from strength to strenth, lets bash it!'Not making any money on this forum equals bash up on somebody ;) Arrium is having a bad week, lets bash the property investors ;)

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:12PM

i don't think it's about bashing so much. the market will have a massive correction as it's pumped up on cheap credit.the realestate market is the same. beware, when the tide of cheap credit flows out there will be a lot of "investors" standing on dry reef without any cozzies on.

Commenter

j

Location

syd

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:27PM

I don't own investment property by the way. I own shares. So spare the forum another Steven Keen/Harry Dent rant ;)

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:35PM

bahahahaha oh brother. I'm saving this URL champ. You come out with some pearlers! Lets see if you right. See you at Xmas Nostradamus ;)

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:58PM

crickets.

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:00PM

Oh you forgot LNG short at $2.80, Allan Prahran :)

Commenter

Kyprios

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:02PM

@j and who are you? I don't need to hear your negativity, I'm well aware about the risks associated with investing. Standing on a reef with out cossies? Thanks?

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:11PM

Don't get cocky!

Commenter

Han Solo

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:43PM

there's no need fr all the aggression. it's just a point of view. yr welcome to address my point. i never gave a date for the tightening of monetary policy. but as most of the market is speculating on when this will occour i would imagine it's pertinent.if u don't think so, that's fine.

Commenter

j

Location

syd

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:53PM

Market Boom!

Did we forget?

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:09PM

@149 commentWhat? now "gravity" has a pullback affect on the market, i'm in awe CMC thats sooo in depth, and here i was thinking it was rocket science...debunked.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:08PM

Wwwish Lion picked up 1,000 BCI @2.89A small gamble in the topical iron game :)

Commenter

Wwwish Lion

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:51PM

I too shall join you & have a crack... BCI now my MGX substitute!

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:13PM

RE: 9:08am "BC Iron sits at $US70 per tonne. (Break-even price)

Not bad!

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:26PM

"Pressure is growing to focus on superannuation tax breaks in the Coalition's planned review of the taxation system. The government is desperate to find ways to reduce the budget deficit."SMSF in the crosshairs....insert expletive

The revenue time bomb sowed by Howard & Costello is about to blow up in the faces of those who replaced them. 300,000+ non-tax-paying super funds, many with multiple members. It's going to be hard kissing goodbye to hundreds of thousands of votes in a tight election campaign. Because of the demographics, many of those votes will be in safe Liberal seats that would stand to change colours.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:54PM

Essential reading those politicians, who are under the delusion that the wealthy pay a lot of tax.

I do the accounts to audit stage for several super funds for my extended family. I'll have to do some "what-if" analysis and see how much new and/or additional age-pension and other benefits would become payable under scenarios of abolishing dividend imputation and/or introducing tax on SMSFs in pension mode. Someone in gov't had better do those sums for the SMSF data they have because they certainly didn't do those sums when introducing the tax exemption for the earnings of SMSFs in pension mode when the exemption was introduced. Either that or grossly underestimated the "Response Effect".

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:52PM

"the improving unemployment rate understates the joblessness problem because it doesn’t account for some 6 million workers who went missing after the 2008 recession"

Housing boom!

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:23PM

It's not an easy thing to become a parody of oneself, but compliment where it's due - you're doing it very impressively.

Commenter

pass the red

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:50PM

Yup. But what about ARI 76c wasn't it?

Commenter

Kyprios

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:53PM

@ptr. LMAO! Definately entertaining, fantasy trader that is ;)

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:55PM

Both lines on the graph you are referring to are trending downwards, so I'm not sure what the point is?

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:57PM

"...The board declared a dividend of 5¢ payable on September 26. Billionaire executive chairman Len Ainsworth, who owns 53.4 per cent of the company, will receive $8.6 million in dividend distributions".

How can they eat at the dinner table knowing they're eating someone else' dinner/money...so very wrong. I shall pass judgement on them and they shall grind their teeth.

Commenter

Prophet

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:14PM

NXT...there mentioned it..now what

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:10PM

NXT suddenly up over 6%, anyone know what happened? To sell or not hmmm...

Commenter

Sceptical Prophet

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:04PM

Tilt,may or may not be the case.A. UBS finally stopped shorting - ceasing notice 20th june and they now have gone longB. Stockpickers finally see the value and growth at current pricing.C.Large fund managers searching for value with too much cash on hand are getting interested.D.Hedging stock against the hybrid securities for future gains.E.The report was actually highlighting the growth phase coming after building the necessary capacity and its costs,which are now set to turn the earnings up.F.Its just random bots playing each other off to draw in the mugpunters for another shorting storm...unleashed by the hidden evil bankers/brokers.i hold and like the stock.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:49PM

Data, the lifeblood of the 21st century.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:59PM

wondering how the shorters are filling in their time?

Commenter

get shorty

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:03PM

Probably just waiting for those crazy bulls to buy some more over priced equities with margin loans.

Commenter

Shorty

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:37PM

Counting my money.

Commenter

JohnBB

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:43PM

@JohnBB, with ya there, not upset about holding 30% across MTU and CWN though :) Happy Trading

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:51PM

looks like we will finish in the red and US futures benign, sell now and buy back tomorrow night!

Commenter

hunter

Location

the punter

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:01PM

Is there anybody on here that can clear up for me why Arrium (ARI) have lost all but 1.5% of their gains since the profit announcement?

Commenter

Jim

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:53PM

Bought 1500 MMS at the close last night for $10.70 and sold for $11.40. Lucky to get that in the end after it opened at $11.50 and went quickly to $11.76 on light volumes.

Now just meandering between $11.00 and $11.12 with small bot trading!

Nice, but almost as risky as the 2 up school!

Commenter

hunter

Location

the punter

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:34PM

shorters at work?

Commenter

roulette wheel

Location

operator

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:24PM

@1215 posttime to get out more if this is becoming commonplace, nearly as bad as watching the stock market all day...hay wait a min..u..t..e.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:27PM

ASX200 has limped its way too 5640.

The mother of all shorts must be nigh!

Commenter

Mister5100

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:06PM

Looks like a bull flag on the daily. And you've have to think the miners will catch a bid soon. Bullish!

Commenter

50BahtLeo

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:23PM

Definitely bull flag and yes, miners oversold!

Commenter

soi 4

Location

nana

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:56PM

Went long with MTU, currently up 86%... Thrilled!!

Commenter

Haya

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:55PM

They talk about a Rally. Not including today 3 day rally Dow up 80 up 70 down 36. ASX up 6 up 4 down 10 and of course down today. What a rally. 5 Year rally Dow up 7000 ASX up 600. That is Ridonkulous.

Commenter

Mel

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:00PM

Was looking at Senex yesterday with 10K to spend ... Glad I sat on hands.

Anyone know what's up with them today? What news is missing?

Commenter

Dodged a bullet

Location

Why?

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:50AM

WTF - they announced results today that missed expectations

Commenter

Nick from Syd

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:18PM

Lucky you.. I got sucked in last week in senex at 0.66.now its too late...might have to wait a while till i see my original investment back.fingers crossed for veda results tomorrow.

CAJ closed unfortunately. Bouncing up 4% today. So sexy! BSB still half on looking good before it gets bad, thanks to positive market ;)

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:59AM

Go MTU! Go Son! Go!

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:55PM

I sold at $6 for an 8% gain. Genius.

Commenter

Sticks

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:06PM

Looking to sell some Dax- who's with me? Also S&P!

Commenter

Daxman

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:36AM

I was going to ask the exact same thing. I guess it's a good idea to offload the DAX today. I get the feeling that it will fall about 100-150 points in couple of days and would be a good entry point.

Just my personal opinion. all the best.

Commenter

MK

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:59AM

I'm holding DAX from at 9100. I was thinking it might still go up further. Daxman what's the reasoning behind your idea that it will drop?

Commenter

jw

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:21PM

I think it will drop as there are plenty of gaps below and August is a traditionally bad month for the Dax. I do see it going back up to 10K and above, but not this month. I would sell now but look for another buying opportunity lower.

Commenter

Daxman

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:40PM

CountPlus (CUP) is looking super-weak. I could be trying to get down to it's old 12c yield. To match it, it would be around $1.15 to $1.20 ... I'll reconsider buying down there!

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:26AM

Doh I should have proofread that before posting.

Basically it's going for its old yield of around 6.8% before franking. Why else would anyone hold it apart from its yield.

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:46AM

so the market's gonna sit flat again, for hours? oh this is boring. do something.

Commenter

j

Location

syd

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:16AM

Hey look a lemon on top [BRU]Chart shows high cost IO producers rallying on a commodity price fall.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:16AM

Atlas Iron up 4.2% what did I miss? More cost cutting?

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:14AM

Can anybody tell me whats going on with Arrium? I thought they made steel, how is the iron ore price effecting this companu?

Commenter

confused

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:14AM

All those gains from profit announcement have been lost :( glad I didn't get on then Friday. Happy with CWN and MTU atm, slow and steady :) Thinking its more likely to push through floor than bounce off it.

Commenter

Happy

Location

Trader

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:53AM

Hey eds can you raise that dotted line a bit seems to be acting as a lid.

After I/O has fallen 3% since I bought into MGX, they are now trading higher than I bought into.

I've bailed out now on this strange day when it's one of two I/O miners I follow that are in the green. Will rebuy in 60s if I get the chance.

I'm guessing I/O starting with an 8 wont last very long. Should bounce from here but I'll try my luck waiting for MGX in the 60s

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:08AM

Damn up 5.7% today. See it's these random up days that make me buy stocks like this when they look oversold

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:54AM

you were gunna share the pain @GS....low threshold or what?

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:10PM

I was but it seem strange that it was 1 of 2 miners I follow that were way up after I/O was hitting lows last night.... i/o down 3% since I bought into MGX on Fri. Much higher today so time to sell... and now in BCI for a new I/O punt!

Commenter

GS

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:35PM

WPL price crawl back above 44.1 ATM. With increase in GAS demands globally what does it mean to WPL business growth in coming years? Will shorter has upper hand?

Commenter

Up and Down is Norm

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:05AM

Pacific Brands: so off shoring everything to China wasn't the magic bullet you thought it would be? Oh well as long as the CEO gets paid, what's the harm. I thought about the company for its dividends then though if i want to invest in a Chinese clothing manufacturer I should invest in China. Glad I did...no dividend.

Commenter

Elric

Location

Melnibone

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:50AM

Correct PB's total strategy was based on off-shoring. Next cab of the rank will be WES, they appear to have lost the plot.

Missed it @ 4.27 hope for an afternoon drift unless i drift first...but future oroofing itself to become leaner,cheaper and more productive/competitive.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:05AM

ANZ commodities analyst Mark Pervan says weak sentiment about China’s economy and “excess inventories” are holding back gains, but that the metal is unlikely to dip much more.At $90 iron ore is unlikely to dip much more, well think again. The Chinese government will not provide any more support and the Chinese residential property market is soon in free fall. Iron ore will quickly go to $75 on basic cost to get the dirt out of the ground. After that it will continue down on basis of massive over supply and low demand in the market. BHP and Rio are playing Russian roulette with shareholder funds, massively increasing supply with dwindling prices.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:29AM

Viking, welcome to the clairvoyant club. I wish I could see the future as clearly as you guys do.

Commenter

billyw

Location

avalon

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:49AM

You are Welcome. The only way to play the share market is to plan ahead and place your bets accordingly, because few others do.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:03AM

You did note that Rio and BHP break even price for iron ore is $50? So even if it does dip to $75 as you predict they're still making 50c on the dollar.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:28AM

Peter, matters a great deal less when demand levels are falling at the same time as prices. Even BHP and Rio will be in trouble.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:01PM

Nope. RIO and BHP are eliminating competition by out producing. China and the world will always need iron ore. If they can afford to get it out of the ground cheap imagine the profits as all the other miners go out of business. Effectively cementing themselves as the Woolworths and Coles of the iron ore industry world wide. People will always need food, people will always need shelter. Over supplies don't last for ever.

Commenter

got

Location

brain

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:04PM

Housing Boom.. Apartment oversupply ? looking at this is a megatrend format I think I see that due to underinvestment in infrastructure over the last 20 years NSW now has a large number of people unwilling to sacrifice 3 to 4 hours of their day commuting. Jobs have not been shifted out to the regions so workers and more are now paying heaps for apartments along the city heavy rail lines. The city inner west is still a box seat desirable area but is fast being snapped up by elites, and downsizers. I think that the thousands of apartments due to hit the market will cause only a minor blip on this move to inner city living .. housing boom no .. apartment boom certainly. .. Traditionalists will say it is the land value .. but these days it is more about time in your day to pursue your own agenda rather than your employers.

Commenter

Lean Too

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:28AM

Look to have hit the nail on the head.Put it to bed.Thats the end of that argument, thanks for clearing it up and ceasing this property bashing tripe!Property over the long run will never lose. Rent money is dead money, unless you live with your parents.

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:25PM

Just sayin - it is comments like your own which indicates strongly to me there are loads of overleveraged people out there espousing fear. I think you love to make these dismissive commonets to make yourselves feel better. Otherwise, if you were that confident in this debt frenzied property market why would you waste time commenting here!??! Surely you'd just sit back and let the $$ roll in!?? The cracks are appearing in property and you know it - For example, I just easily negotiated a 30$ decrease on my rent in a desirable inner melb suburb. Now that does not measure up nicely with the BBQ talk of all the suburban property 'moguls' does it....? You kick people on the way up and they might not be so nice on the way down..............

Commenter

Ivor gripe

Location

Melb

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:49PM

@ ivor gripe. he he thanks for reply (bite). I don't own investment property? I own shares. Thats why I am on Markets Live. Are you mad or something? Not sure what I am missing here?

Commenter

just sayin'

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 2:00PM

@946 comment MSBMesobasketcase..i have a love/hate relationship with [emotion aside]but if the final stage clinical trial is successful and the registration of product sneaks thru this year, it will be a revelation to all transplant surgery and its stock price till then "IF" is a very big word.

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:22AM

The reverse trend happened i mentioned it [MSB] and the stock rallied 16c....okCUP,CUP,CUP!its half empty...

Maybe PB used some of the first class financial planners from Macquarie to advice them. Come to think about it, that must be the case based on PB's results.

Commenter

Viking

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:45AM

I have no knowledge of the specific situation with Pacific Brands, but I can say from my corporate days that often when an investment bank is brought in to "advise" on options it is simply to attach a high profile name to what the executives and board are going to do anyway. Being able to say that Bank X advised a particular course of action is often just arse-covering in a world where the threat of litigation is never far away.

Commenter

pass the red

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:53AM

AMP up @harry..time to jump off?hovering on FMG with the 10c divd in mind as well

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:18AM

BSB

AMP No logic. Are n't human beings amazing I'm now break even . Do I sell? FMG See my post

DRM Couldnt get enough so only have small holding will look for more.

BDR Maybe 0.45 again plenty of time (Never short of volume)

VEI very good result but low volume

BHP down down famous day trader regret should have sold. No time to fret back on the merry go round.

Commenter

Harry Rogers

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:57AM

AMP = well volumes there so some interest...afternoon fade is the trend, but i thought that yesterday when i sold ORG for 15.18 then watched it rally till the end @ 15.35 so justgotta keep watching...on a lighter note there is always a conditional order and then you wont see it till it completes...sorta surprise package.DRM - friday was the day..grabbed at 57c then rallied to 9% up on a little glossy flyer update.BDR trigger is at 46ish...got some @ 47.3 this morning now back up to hold 30000...so button off.all good

Commenter

BearshapedBull

Location

Mugpunters Lounge

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 11:50AM

Harry you must be the biggest shareholder in BDR by now, always picking up more and more the lower the price goes...

Commenter

DR

Location

Clovelly

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 3:23PM

Well a rich man told me once your buy price has to be less than your sell price. He also said ignore the grandstand.

I try to keep these tips a secret.

Commenter

Harry Rogers

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 4:03PM

WA debt in 2008 - $3.6 billiontoday - $27 billionas usual the government in charge says they are working to reduce that debt - as they said in 2008.watch for that debt to balloon out of control especially now they have had their precious AAA taken away.apparently there was a mining boom and the biggest winners were WA. boom = massive debt it would seem.

Commenter

silingjack

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:09AM

They (the WA) government were working for the benefit of their party's owners - the mining corporations.

Now the mining boom is over, there will be no super profits to tax with a super profits tax.

Mission Accomplished

Commenter

Catch 22

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:30AM

I noticed the recent swimming competition in australia was the "hancock prospecting" what ever what ever. Gina is such a loving caring giving to society kinda gal.

Commenter

smilingjack

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:10PM

"Youth unemployment in Victoria hits 15-year high"

"In a short time youth unemployment will be a significant handbrake on the economy.

"We are facing a situation where in a few years unemployment rates of more than 25 per cent won't be uncommon."

@irish phil. LMAO! One day he'll be right, actually how old is he? Probs not then.

Commenter

Just

Location

sayin'

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:48AM

This is good news. Many more Centrelink jobs will be created in Vic. Becoming a complete basket case like Tassie.

Commenter

Vic Bitter

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 1:01PM

Overproduction of iron ore by low cost producers has only one aim ... to shut down the high cost producers. Expecting wage cuts.

Commenter

Wally

Location

Flynn

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:36AM

Stocks should BOOM now that the LIEbrals have admitted there is NO budget emergency!!..finally some truth from this mob.

Commenter

Steeden

Location

Ballina

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:26AM

Both Joyce and Cormann have re-iterated the claim that there IS a Budget Emergency altho Joyce is now calling it a melanoma. The only real emergency though, is that they might be embarrassed by breaking yet another promise to call a DD when they can't pass the rest of that stinking pile through the Senate.

Commenter

mitch of ACT

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:51AM

Simply remove the 50% capital gains tax discount $ 7 billion per year for specufesters. Voila - no more budget emergency, and no more housing speculation.

Commenter

The real fix

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 12:51PM

Share market up, housing market up, easy money to be made off those shorters.

Life is good.

Commenter

Nalla

Location

Narharp

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:25AM

"The vice grip of oversupply and high cash costs will be pressuring Australia's iron ore miners, as the metal's price drifts lower and margins evaporate."

89.20 and falling oh dear...

Housing boom!

Commenter

Allan

Location

Prahran

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:20AM

“I called 5440 ceiling several times and fell on deaf ears. No one thought it would stop... 10 months later the market is all but out of puff with nowhere to go but down. There is a debt laden sovereign bomb coming world wide. Taxes can no longer maintain our expected services provisions.

CommenterLiberatorLocationSEQLDDate and timeApril 14, 2014, 3:18PM

Commenter

Why economists need

Location

to first be educated.

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:32AM

Why would you be cheering for the iron ore price to go down?

Commenter

ARIstotle

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:43AM

Studiously ignoring FMG in the article I see

Commenter

mushy

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:43AM

Why would you be cheering when the price of iron ore goes down?

Trying to think of reasons because surely it would be counter productive to the SP of ARI which you recently posted a trade!

Commenter

just

Location

wondering

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:47AM

Allan: do you GENUINELY believe that the price of iron ore has a material affect on housing prices in our capital cities (other than Perth maybe)?

Commenter

Irish Phil

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:47AM

BHP and RIO could be down to a gross margin on iron ore around 100%. Yes. it is definitely time to panic.

Commenter

billyw

Location

avalon

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:50AM

the more mining goes down, the more the govt will need to prop housing up. so yes, housing boom!

Commenter

brian

Location

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:58AM

It's like a broken record that never tires of being wrong............

Commenter

Picken

Location

Choose

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 9:59AM

Given the cyclic nature of the market, I think its well past time to start predicting the next housing boom. Alan is spot on that there will be a sizable temporary correction somewhere between 2000 and 2030. Here's to the inevitable market rally post then... (Remember I predicted it first)

Commenter

Peter

Location

Oz

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:33AM

Does this mean that the prophet of doom and gloom, our resident fantasy trader will use up another one of his never ending free add to long positions when ARI gets smashed then? lol again allan more laughs!

Commenter

poor baby

Location

toorak

Date and time

August 26, 2014, 10:57AM

@ARIstotle...."Why would you be cheering for the iron ore price to go down?".....

So we can get the massive wake up call Australia needs sooner rather than later. While there's still hope to retain some of Australia's wealth.